Before ending this series let us understand that Genesis 1:1 speaks of a two-membered Godhead: “In the beginning God ….” The English Word “God” in Hebrew is “Elohim” which is a plural word used to describe a singular entity. Such words as group, family and church fall into this category. In verse three God–the member of the Godhead who was in authority–said, “Let US ….” At that time the authoritative God was called God and the other God was called “the Word” (Jn. 1:1-4,14). The Word was equal to but subservient to God. The power with which the Godhead created the universe was called the Holy Spirit. During the creation process, God issued a command to the Word Who used Their Holy Spirit to create what God had said. In this way, God created the universe by the Word, who later became Jesus of Nazareth.

Following the creation of the earth and everything on, under and within its atmosphere, the Godhead (“Us”) made man in Their (“Our”) image and likeness ….” Then the unchanging God continued, “and let them (mankind) have DOMINION over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth and over all that creeps upon the earth.” Notice that man was given total control over the earth. The earth and everything connected to it was given to man. God is the same yesterday (in the beginning), today and forever. He does not change. His will for man does not change. Adam and Eve’s descendants are still operating under the covenant God made with them. In Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 He revisits that covenant with the children of Israel (Jacob). Nothing had changed. His will is STILL to bless them. As their descendants, He wants the best for us. So why is the world in the condition it is in? The answer is found in one word–SIN. The only prerequisite for receiving God’s blessings is OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD. God is waiting for a man, a nation or the whole of mankind to obey Him. Few, Jesus noted, would do so (Mat. 7:13,14).

In closing, let us combine Genesis 1:26, Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 in order to determine what God wants for godly men today. He wants those who believe and obey Him to have everything they need for a full, successful, happy life, and to have it in abundance. But there is a caveat, an all-encompassing “IF” that must be satisfied. This is written in the New Testament in 3 John 2: “Beloved, I wish ABOVE ALL THINGS that you may PROSPER and be in HEALTH, even as your SOUL prospers.” God’s people must obey Him in order to be prosperous and in health. These blessings He has promised to those with eyes to see and ears to hear. To qualify for those blessings we must “walk as He (Jesus) walked” in righteousness, purity, holiness and godliness (1 Jn. 2:6). As noted previously, to “walk as He walked” means to do, say and think exactly as He did–according to the Father’s leading by Holy Spirit. Only those who “led by the Spirit of God” are “sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). By obeying God’s voice (His Holy Spirit) we can fulfill His commission for us. We can be Gods among men, just as Jesus was “God with (among) us” (Mat. 1:23). As I proved in the series titled Jesus of Nazareth: God, Man or God-man? Jesus was totally man. He became a God while still a man through total obedience to the Father. He was a God only because He feared and obeyed His heavenly Father. We, as men, can be God’s exactly as He was as a man IF we obey as He obeyed.  As I have shown Scripturally in this series, God commands that we be on earth as Jesus was on earth–God-men. To be Gods we must walk as He walked (1 Jn. 2:6), purify ourselves as did He (1 Jn. 3:3) and overcome Satan as did He (Rev. 3:21). If we do so we will do everything He did and even greater things (Jn. 14:12). That is God’s business. Let us, as did Jesus, be about His business. Only by being God-men is this possible. Only a God can do a God work. We, like the man Jesus of Nazareth, must “work the works of God” (Jn. 9:4) by being “one with” and “in” Him and His Son and having Them “one with” and “in” us. Only then can we walk together with Them in total agreement with Them. They ask: “Can two walk together unless they agree?” Jesus walked with God because He agreed with Him.

Agreeing, or disagreeing is a mental action. Everything begins in the mind. God said through the Apostle Paul: “Let (our choice) this (same) mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). In Proverbs 23:7 we are told that as a man thinks in his heart (mind), so he is. Man controls what his thinking process. It is in the mind (heart) that we determine what we will be, do, say, etc. Everything, good or bad, righteous or evil, begins in the mind–the bodily organ that determines who and what we are. If we allow God to instill within us “the mind that was in Christ Jesus,” and if everything begins in the mind, then we will indeed be on earth as Jesus was on earth–Gods among men. That being the case, what Jesus said about Himself we can say about ourselves: “When you (the world) sees me, you have seen the Father.”

But do not be surprised at the world’s reaction to your presence in it. Recall that the world killed Jesus–“… the light of the world”–and as well as His original apostles, whom He designated as the “light of the world.” Jesus warned those who would follow Him that the world would hate them and say all manner of evil against them for His name’s sake. He warned that there would come a time when His followers would be killed by people who think they are serving God, and that their primary enemies would be their own family members. See Persecution.

Jesus was God’s light to the world because His mind was one with the mind of the Father. As a man, this was His choice. He BECAME God among men through obedience to the Father, not by fiat. God makes us that same offer as we “walk” through this life. We choose our own steps (thoughts, words, acts, attitudes, etc.). To “walk as Jesus walked” (1 Jn. 2:6) we must “have the mind” that He had. Only those who have that same mind and walk that same walk will enter the Kingdom of God and rule and reign over the universe with Him for eternity. L.J.